T W E N T Y  T H I R D
by Puppet-Dancer
Summary: A Career from district 1 teams up with the weakest tribute of the bunch. Alliances are formed between the two tributes but can trust and loyalty means survival or death? Let the 23rd Hunger Games begin!
1. Chapter 1: 23rd Hunger games

**T W E N T Y T H I R D**

**Twenty three tributes lose their life in the hunger games, one becomes the victor. In the game of life and death, no one is to be trusted. **

**Chapter 1: The 23rd Hunger Games**

My whole body began to shake as the oval glass slid down over me, making a transparent wall between me and my stylist Florence. Florence, who has been kind throughout my stay in the Capitol made a reassuring gesture by placing her right hand on the glass surface. I know that kind of gesture and I too placed my hand on top of the glass surface, rejoining her hands on the other side. "May the odds be ever in your favor, Adelaide." Florence said under the thick glass, but I could comprehend the words just by reading her lip movements. Then the platform began to move up and Florence walked over to the side of the room, eyes still locked on mine as the ceiling above us dividedly opened and sunlight came peering inside the room, blinding my sight on my stylist and friend.

When my eyesight has fully adjusted to the light coming from the scorching sun above my head, I found myself looking at the vast meadows and the golden Cornucopia. Around me, forming a circle are my fellow twenty-three tributes. Before us laid stacks of food supplies, medicines, everyday necessities like water and herbs and weapons of various sizes and shapes. Of all the weapons laid down on us, it was the double daggers a few yards from mine which caught my attention.

During the training with the gamemakers, I showed them my skill with the double daggers. I single-handedly destroyed the blue colored manikins with my weapons; chopping off heads and limbs with ravenous eyes. The gamemakers were kind enough, no, too generous enough to give me a score of ten.

Then the sixty seconds came into toll. I listened as the number tolls down to ten and with final glance over to my fellow tributes, I caught sight of Damien Cross; the boy tribute from my district which is district 8. He was looking straight at me and then be began to wink. Just before I could give him a nod as a reassurance for good luck, the gong began to resound inside my ears and as if on cue, my legs began to run in high speed, almost too fast than Damien could run.

When I reached the cornucopia, I found the double daggers on my feet. I reached down for it but before I could reach it, the boy from district 2 pushed me off balance, and I found myself rolling unto dirt and grass. I was frantic that during my fall some tribute will stab me with a knife or a sword but I was lucky that nobody dared to kill me but was too unfortunate that the double daggers were snatched away from me. That was my only hope for survival throughout the game.

I pulled myself to stand on both legs but there were jelly-like and I staggered a few steps to my back. I looked around me and saw some tributes fighting over weapons, four bodies are already sprawled on the ground in their own pool of blood, and other tributes were already running deep into the forest. I was lucky enough to be included in this game where the setting is of a forest. It will give me the great advantage to live as I was taught when I was young how to survive when in a forest filled with vicious cannibal eating creatures.

Though defeated without my choice of weapon, I snatched the closest black bag with red linings and speed off into the forest, trailing behind Damien, who had successfully got his choice of weapon; a double headed spear.

I wanted to follow Damien, form an ally with him, but before I could call him off, a small dagger come flying towards me, scraping the back of my ear. I turned around in surprise. My heart began to beat heavily on my chest as the though of no weapon on hand crossed my mind. I was staring wide-eyed at my assailant and from there I realized that it was the boy from district 1; a career.

I heard his name during the interview. I believed it was Gabriel. He was the boy wearing non-casual clothes. All of the tributes, including me and Damien were wearing fashioned clothing from our talented stylists but both tributes from district 1 both wore casual clothes; brown leather coat, white long sleeves, dark colored pants and brown combat boots, despite the fact that their district is one of the richest and luxurious of all the districts around. They looked predatory in their outfit, matched with swirling black tattoos on their faces that came to the viewers as ethnic inspired, their eyes shadowed viciously like snarling tigers out for a pounce. The other tribute, the girl with the overflowing brown hair in ringlets looked too superior to her other tribute. She looked more ravenous than him. And I put it on mind not to cross paths with her at the game.

I looked at Gabriel with wide struck eyes. He had on his hand an axe with a wooden hilt. He looked at me with his blue-gray dull eyes, almost looking bored. He stepped closer and I found myself staggering to run for my life. I felt the heaviness of my bag and I waited for his axe to drive into my insides or worst my head but nothing came. I looked back and saw him a few yards away from me, still and idle to where he was before and I found it a way to escape death. It looks like he is not going to kill me for now.

I rummaged through the bushes for dear life, hoping I wouldn't step into deadly traps set by my fellow tributes or the gamemakers themselves, poisonous plants that when in contact with the skin will make me weak and defenseless, ravenous animals pouncing up for fresh meat and then there is the fear of a fellow tribute shooting weapons at me. I press pressure unto my bleeding ear.

I walked for about four hours, slipping into a resting state below trees on the way. When nightfall has crossed the Panem skies, I slipped myself into an abandoned burrow underneath an old oak tree and laid down the sleeping bag that was placed inside the bag I've snatched from the cornucopia. Exhaustion made me drift into slumber, but I woke up instantly when a rustle of leaves came into my hearing. A squirrel was searching for food. I slumped back to my sleeping bag and began to think of my plan. Tomorrow at dawn, I will hunt a tribute, kill my first kill and then snatch whatever weapon he/she has with him. Or even snatch away food and water.

That was my plan to survive. I know I am not that strong, intelligent and resourceful like the other tributes and the tributes from past games but I am capable to learn from experience. Living a life as a seamstress and making clothes for the military has been my occupation since a little girl. I was born after all in district 8; the only district where occupation basically is concern on textiles. I lived with my ailing mother and almost everyday has nothing to feed my stomach as well as my already dying mother. Life in my district was too hard, but now that I am in the hunger games, I began to think twice about that.

When I was reaped, I was not given the chance to see my mother or know her condition. But having Mrs. Fowen as our kind neighbor and employer, I know she will take care of my mother. But the thought of not seeing my mother ever again and knowing that if I am fortunate enough to win and that I will not see her again made tears fall down to my emerald eyes. I fidgeted on my long black hair and buried my face on my sleeping mat.

As the moon crossed over the midnight blue skies, the fear of dying and not seeing my mother made my life more miserable as it is now.

The following morning, my eyes felt heavy and kept on fluttering. I had no sleep that night and thoughts of death and faces of my ill mother and deceased sister made it more impossible to drift into a slumber. As I walked out of the burrow, placed my bag on my shoulder and began to hunt for my first victim, I was totally unaware that behind me darted a flying axe and I found myself startled to find it perched on a tree trunk almost missing me an inch.

_Why am I always targeted at my back?_

I jerked around and before I could see my attacker, I was forced to the ground with a heavy impact, almost knocking out air from my lungs. I gasped in horror as the female tribute from district 1 pinned me on the ground. I was kicking and staggering to knock her over but she was very heavy. She began to lift her weight and as she stood up, she grabbed me by my hair and dragged me like a limp rag doll on the muddy ground. Stones sharp as razors pierced my skin on my back and I winced in pain as she dragged me underneath the tree where her weapon was perched.

"So you're my first victim!" she was grinning. "Pathetic that my first kill is such a weakling and stupid to add up." She pulled out the axe from the tree trunk, yanked my hair roughly that I felt some of my hair coming out from its root on my scalp. I screamed in agony as she pulled me on a stand and banged my head on the tree trunk. My eyesight began to blur and then regained. I saw her flawless olive skin, eyes looking furious and lips on a grin.

She pushed me back to the trunk with a heavy push that I felt my shoulder bone snapping and cracking. I closed my eyes as the sight of her other hand swinging the axe towards my head flashed into my head. I waited for my death when a rustling of the dead leaves on the ground echoed around us. The girl dropped me instantly on the ground and I found myself gasping and panting for air.

She left me immediately and walked a few meters away from me, axe held protectively on her hands. She scanned the whole vicinity and then from the group of trees, a silhouette came into view. The girl urges the assailant from behind the trees but whoever was there was silent but kept on moving from the shadows of the tree. And then there was a glint of silver flash coming towards the girl.

The girl knew what was coming for her and she dodged it, graceful and fluidly that her brown hair swayed with her every elegant movement. She backed away and turned back to whoever threw a weapon at her, while I pressed myself on the ground as another axe came in contact with the tree behind me. So that glint of light came from the coming axe.

"Very proper for you to attack me, Gabriel." the girl waited.

I looked up to them and to the axe above my head and from what it looked like; I knew for sure it belonged to Gabriel. I saw it while I was running away from him yesterday.

"You're my kill Monica." Gabriel's voice was faint as he was still a few meters away from me and the girl he has called Monica.

Monica began to move away from me and then came charging towards Gabriel. I forced myself to stand but I felt lightheaded as the impact of my head to the trunk made it more impossible to stand up for life's sake. I saw Gabriel dodging what I could comprehend as small daggers but one pierced him on his upper right arm. I saw him wince as he yanked the dagger from his skin and threw it back to Monica, who expectantly caught it with her bare hands. She began to laugh. "Is that all you've got, Gabriel?" she snickered like a sly vixen.

Gabriel smiled at her comment. "Bet that's all you could think of me doing for you." and then his hand moved into a leather bag from his belt. With a sly smile like Monica's, he threw what looked like star shaped blades to her. It was at least a handful of them and it glinted out silvery lights upon the sunlight. I saw Monica collapse on the ground on her knees as these star shaped blades landed on her legs.

"Playing dirty like before, huh?" she pulled out the blades from her legs but it made her wobble when she stood up to her feet. "I'll see you around!" and without even turning a glance at me, she took off to another direction towards the bushes and then out from our sight. Still a deadly axe is at her possession.

Monica was powerful, but she scurried off like a rat not because she was afraid but because she was injured and needed treatment to fight again.

I saw Gabriel taking Monica's dagger to his hands and placing it inside his leather bag on his belt. He began to move towards me and I found myself forcing to stand up. I was successfully that I cling unto the tree trunk to avoid myself from falling back to the ground. With the little strength I had within me, I reached out for the axe beside my arm, pulled it out from the trunk and with a clumsy throw, I directed it towards Gabriel, who should have been less amused dodged it as it moved pass him and then landed with gravity on the ground a few yards from him.

"Easy with the throw." He stopped a few inches from me and I found myself locking eyes with his beautiful blue-gray eyes. It was easy for me to recognize his black hair and deep blue-gray eyes but what strikes me the most is that he had a prominent scar reaching from his temple down in a curve shape down to his right eye.

I looked away from him and staggered to move as far away from him but the dizziness overtook me and I found myself collapsing on the ground. I opened my eyes and found his boots in front of my face. I saw him kneel down beside me and felt his arms pulling me up from the ground. I flinched away from him but I was too tired to move or fight him off and then I found myself giving in to what he could do to me.

I know he is as vicious as his fellow tribute. Being careers in their district might have put Monica and him into pressure and into a tight relationship that made them enemies than allies. Most of the past careers have formed alliances in the games but Monica and Gabriel are two different people. They despise each other, seeing each other as a threat than a useful ally for the game. But who could blame them, for only one out of the twenty four tributes will be crowned as the victor of the hunger games. There are no friends and loyal allies in the end.

I opened my eyes for one last time and saw his face radiated beautifully in the sunlight. He was fair skinned, very flawless despite the fact that there is a scar almost camouflage on his face. I found him look down to me and I know from the look of his eyes that he will have to kill me anytime soon. I closed my eyes and the image of my mother poured down on me and I found myself slowly slipping out of consciousness to who knows where death is waiting for me.

I am a goner, that's for sure.


	2. Chapter 2: Alliance

**Chapter 2: Alliance**

The sound of the Mockingjay's singing snapped my eyes wide open. I whirled unto my side and force myself to stand up, but the pain on my head from yesterday's fight made it obvious that I am too pained to even sit up.

I looked around me and found myself laying on the grass just underneath a tree I cannot decipher what was. The yellow-orange leaves began to fall down from its twig and landed on the ground beside me. I looked up again and there I saw Gabriel way perched up in the tree, his axe on his hands. He was looking far away into the horizon, just before the sun sets into the orange colored skies. I pulled my legs towards my chest and fought the urgency to vomit from waking up very abruptly.

"You should rest for a while longer." He told me from way up high in the tree. I realized he wasn't looking at me as he said that, his attention was far too locked at the vast meadows and greenery before him. Obviously, he must be looking out for the other tributes in the area.

I began to stand up and this caught his attention. His eyes were looking down at me in his usual bored expression. "Why did you save me?" I asked him.

Gabriel looked away and back to the horizon before him. He both heard a canon fire from the distance. We both knew someone must have died. Tonight during the live televise of the game, a screen will flash out in the skies revealing the images of the dead tributes. It was already nightfall and stars began to appear into tiny diamonds in the purple skies. I took a seat on the grass and leaned my back on the trunk and gazed upon the greenery before my eyes.

There was an uneasy stillness across me and the silence has been more deafening than ever. I just hope no tribute will come out from those bushes and attack me. I still have no weapons on hand and seeing that Gabriel is not concerning himself to save me again, I felt the urge to be defensive despite being weaponless and vulnerable on my spot.

The purple skies turned into midnight blue and I found the crescent moon glimmering over us. I began to drift my thoughts to my ill mother. I was praying she is still alive and not watching the game. The more she watched me turn miserable will be no doubt the cause of her abrupt death. I shoved the thoughts away and heard the rustle of leaves above me. I looked up and then saw Gabriel jumping down towards the ground beside me. I moved out from his distance as his feet reached the ground, smashing a couple of twigs into halves.

"Hungry?" he asked as he pulled something from his brown colored bag behind him. He tossed me a piece of raw meat; a rabbit's meat I suppose. My stomach began to grumble upon the sight of the meat and I dig out the meat like a feast of cannibals.

Gabriel watched me as I swallowed the chunks of meat down to my throat without any pauses. He walked closer and handed me a bottle made of glass filled with tap water. I took it from his hand, almost like snatching it away from his hands and drowned my throat with the water. It eased my thirst and I found myself sighing in relief. I handed his bottle back and he placed it back to his bag without turning to look back at me.

"So why save me when you can easily kill me?" I asked.

Gabriel first scanned the whole vicinity before he sat down beside me. There was a gap between us but the tension around us felt too uneasy to bear. I scoot a little away from him. "So why didn't you kill me?" I asked again.

"I want you to be my ally." He turned to me with a new expression from his eyes; serious and needing.

I raised a brow. "Why need me as an ally? I am clumsy and very much not survive the game!" I told him but he was doubtful of my reply and the look on his face made me angry at him. "A career asking a lowly tribute for an ally? You do not need me! You can survive on your own! I am leaving! Kill me now if you want to! But I will not back out from a fight, you understand!" I stood up. I was screaming that I began to realize if I keep up this tone, some of the tributes will find us and kill us.

But I bet they wouldn't kill Gabriel. He was very powerful and very keen to everyone's actions.

"Look at you. You don't have a weapon yet you will not back out a fight from me. Would the odds be in your favor? I will try guessing!" he stood up as well and readied his axe on hand. "Want to bet on that?"

I furrowed my eyes at him, hoping he isn't bluffing. But when he came up to me, swinging his axe at me, I know for sure he was serious with it. I dodged his axe, but then he swings it again and this time it scraped off the skin from my upper right arm. I moaned and dropped to the ground, clutching tightly my bleeding arm. Gabriel stood before me with his eyes intensely on me. He was about to swing again but I raised my arms in the air. "Okay! Okay! I will be your ally!" with those words, I know for sure that the people viewing me in their homes are making a laugh out of me. My approach was weak, and it's very convincing that I am the weakest link of the bunch.

Gabriel smiled at me and dropped his axe on the ground. He knelt down beside me and examined the wound on my arm. I watched him as he pulled out a medicine kit from his bag and pulled out strips of white bandages. He wrapped the bandages around my injured arm and secured it with a metal slip. He stood up again and handed me his dagger. "If you will become my ally, you will be needing this."

I took the dagger from his hand. It's not the weapon I was hoping to have at this time, but I think this will do.

"Thank you." I told him as I placed the dagger on my belt. "For tending my injury and becoming my ally." I added.

Gabriel turned to look at me. "Just promise me you won't die until the very end."

I looked up to him and nodded. "And promise me you won't do anything to kill me before that."

Gabriel nodded and smiled. "Deal!"

And before we could shake hands for an agreement pact, the canon shots in the air and the anthem began to play. We both waited for the screen to show up in the air and then we saw three images of tributes. The girl from district 11, a boy from district 9 and then a girl from district 12. 9 tributes are already dead, counting with the six dead at the cornucopia from two days ago.

"Let's rest for now. I'll take the first watch." Gabriel began to climb up the tree again, obviously he wasn't thinking of asking me to come up with him. Even if he urges me to, I wouldn't give in because I don't even know how to climb. And I do not trust him completely.

So I settled on the ground beneath the tree and watched the darkness before me engulfed me with it. As the night deepens, I found myself slowly drifting off into slumber.

"Adelaide!"

Once my name reached my brain, I jolted up from the ground and scanned the whole vicinity. I made out a silhouette forming from the trees across us. I stood up and readied my dagger and then the rustle of leaves made me jump up into fright. I turned and saw Gabriel now standing beside me. Instead of his usual axe, he was also holding a dagger on his hand.

"Where's your axe?" I asked almost in fear.

Gabriel shook his head. "I know this guy. I've observed him during the trainings. He is good in hand to hand combat." He replied back, not even looking at me as he talk. "I saw him sneak up on us while I was on top of the tree."

I raised a brow. If he was talking about the boy who is very much known to be skilled in hand to hand combat then I am fully aware who our opponent is. I straightened up and placed my dagger on my belt. I walked closer to the shadow and it moved closer but steadily slow. Then with the moonlight, I could perfectly see who it was.

It was Damien.

"You formed an ally with him? Damien asked from the distance.

I nodded my head. "I had no choice." I responded back.

Damien dropped his defense and I gestured Gabriel to drop his as well. But to my surprise, Gabriel ignored my gesture and came rushing towards Damien. Damien who realized that Gabriel is in for a kill readied his double headed spear and waited for Gabriel to reach a distance enough for his spear to hit his chest. I panicked as the thought of Gabriel fighting off my friend.

Damien before we were reaped in the game is a schoolmate, a neighbor and perhaps the only friend I had in our district. He was kind enough to be my friend seeing that I myself am not an extrovert such as himself.

I began to run after Gabriel with my dagger on hand. I saw Gabriel reach a knowing distance from Damien and saw that he had already thrown a spear at him. Gabriel even though the dark could sense the weapon aiming at his chest and he dodged it as fluidly like Monica does in their last fight. The spear came flying towards me and I found myself plunging unto the ground, hitting my nose on a rock but eventually living another day. The spear landed towards the bushes beside the tree and the rustle of the leaves signaled that an animal was woken up by the weapon thrown. I looked back to the scene before me and saw Damien fighting Gabriel on a dagger fight.

Gabriel was fast for Damien. It looked like he had night vision to dodge Damien's attacks. I run towards them again and fought myself between them. Gabriel who saw me before him pulled his dagger away from me but Damien didn't. I found myself being thrown away to the ground by Damien's force and I gasped for air. I rolled to my side and saw Damien's dagger hitting Gabriel's palm.

The sharp weapon pierced right into Gabriel's palm. Even through the still darkness, I could see black liquid- Gabriel's blood- dripping out from the hole on his palm. Gabriel limped away from Damien as the former pulled his dagger as roughly as he could. It was by then that I realized that Gabriel was blocking away Damien's dagger that was right at the moment aiming at his face.

I forced myself to stand up but found myself limping. I looked down to my leg and realized that I have sprained my ankle. Despite my efforts to limp towards them, the two boys began to fight off again.

Damien was of an advantage for Gabriel was too injured to use his dagger, now that his best hand is injured badly. Damien smirked as he lunges over to Gabriel and I found the former laying flat on the ground, his other hand pushing away Damien's dagger from his chest.

"Never underestimate me!" Damien shouted at his opponent. He was about to shove the dagger towards Gabriel's chest but I was unto them right before the dagger pierced Gabriel's chest. I shoved Damien away from Gabriel and the latter rolled unto the ground, scraping his leg with his own dagger. Damien moaned in agony as his dagger cut deep into his flesh and almost hitting his bone.

"Stand up!" I urged Gabriel but he was too weak as blood came gushing out from the hole on his hand. I felt horrible helping someone I am not well known off than to someone I practically call my brother. I placed his arm around my shoulder and single handedly made him stand up. He wobbles at first but before I could place him in a safe distance from Damien, he was unto us again and this time, even if we were friends, even if we are from the same district, even if we were almost allies, he threw a dagger at me and it pierced my back, making me fall down to the earth ground, dropping Gabriel limply beside me.

Damien walked towards us and I screamed in agony as he pulled the dagger from my back. I clenched my fists on the weeds before me and tears came through my eyes. I whirled to my back and saw the glint of his enraged eyes. The silver tip of his dagger flashed before my eyes. He knelt over me and was about to cut off my throat. The game means survival and killing me is in the rules; friend or not. That was the consequence and agreement of the game.

When I saw Gabriel stand behind him, I cried in horror as Gabriel struck Damien with a rock. It hit Damien hard on the head and I heard his skull cracking, loud enough to make my insides hurl and my vomit ascends to my throat. I moved away from Damien's body but it was too late as he vomited blood over my face. I tasted his blood and the fear of dying rushed into my system like electricity. I braced for Damien's already dying body fall unto me but Gabriel pushed his body to the side and Damien fell down to the side and then his face turned pale.

I was thunderstruck at the moment that registration of what happened seems to take longer than usual. I sat up and turned to look at Damien's dead body. It wasn't long enough when we were first introduced as the tributes from district 8. I could still perfectly and vividly remember the days and nights we spent with our crew in the train, the interviews when he balanced me when I was about to trip over a cord and then his wink at the Cornucopia.

Damien was my friend after all, but now, he is dead.

The canon blows off in the distant and birds came flying in the night air. I stood up and then knelt beside Damien's body. His green eyes are still open and I closed them with my fingers. His black hair was drenched in blood and I made a final attempt to wipe out his bangs from his eyes. I rolled his body to his back and touched his cheeks. Even through death, I had the urge to forgive what he had done to me.

I am sure at this time, his parents are wailing for his death, his younger sister who happens to be very close to me might be regretting knowing me and trusting me like an older sister. The rush of memories came in an instant and I was forced to be drag away from the scene as the hovercraft came into view in the night sky. From a distance, I could see Damien's body being whirled into the air and then out into view.

The feeling of finding a close friend die before your eyes was enough for me, but I forced myself not to cry and feel guilty. The emotions that could be seen in the TV are too hard for me and to my mother, so I tried my best to be strong and firm on my ground. Besides I am injured and badly needed a treatment. I need to be strong for that.

I turned to Gabriel, who is now wrapping bandages on his injured palm. He then turned to look at me. "You cannot afford to risk your life for someone's sake anymore." He tossed me his bandages.

"But he is a friend."

"And a contender." Gabriel snapped at me. "How many are there alive?"

I looked away from him. "Fourteen."

"And only one survives. There are no friends in the end, Adelaide. When the poll comes into three and we are still alive, there will come a time that we both have to kill each other."

"Then what is the point of having me as an ally?" I blurt out to him, eyes stinging from forced tears.

Gabriel retreated back to our resting place and then looked at me through his shoulder. "If there are two of us against a tribute, then the percentage of survival is high." He was about to climb up the tree again but stopped on his tracks to look at me again. "We are not friends after all." And then he was gone from the ground, high perched back to his fork on the tree above me.

"That's doubtful." I mumbled to myself as I snatched Damien's spear on the ground. If it means surviving, then I will not afford to befriend him anymore. I will be his ally but not too long.

This is the hunger games after all. _Survival__of__the__fittest._


	3. Chapter 3: Dept Unpaid

**Chapter 3: Debt Unpaid**

The loud sound of the canon made me leap from my resting state. I pulled out the dry palm leaves that covered my shivering body and saw white smoke emanating out from my lips as I took a long sigh. Looking up to the tree above me, I saw Gabriel awake and eating a piece of apple. He found me looking at him, oblivious that my stomach is grumbling from hunger.

"Here." He dropped down an apple to me and I caught it with my muddy hands. "Your stomach has been making loud noises." He added, this time his eyes are averted to the rising sun at the horizon.

I looked away from him, the tint blush on my cheeks obvious on my bruised face. I took a bite on the apple and tasted the sweetness of its juice in my mouth. I wiped my mouth with my jacket's sleeves and turned my gaze back to Gabriel. "How long have you been awake?"

"Long enough for your stomach to settle." He replied back and this time he leapt down from his resting place on the tree and crouched down beside me. "We need to move out." He added, standing up straightly and I could perfectly see the damages Damien had caused him during their fight last night.

It was obvious that his hand is still in bad condition, the white bandages soiled with his own blood. There were cuts on his arms and face and he was limping as he began to walk off. With one last bite from the apple, I tossed it away and followed him from behind.

We walked passed bushes and trees, weapons ready for any assault, but it seems no tributes were settled near our camp. I looked up to the skies and saw dark gray clouds settling in the arena. I walked faster so I could walk side by side with Gabriel, but it seems he doesn't want any company beside him, so I trailed off a little behind.

Then another canon fired up in the skies. That's two deaths in one day. That will make twelve of us alive. Gabriel who stopped on his tracks, silence me and I found myself readying my dagger on hand. He looked around and then out from the shadows of the tree before us, an arrow flew to our direction. The arrow flew passed Gabriel's side and aimed towards me.

"Block it!" Gabriel was running towards me and I found my hand where I held the dagger moved to my front and I blocked the arrow from piercing my neck. The arrow rocket up to the trees above us and then fell down a few yards from my feet.

Gabriel finally reached my side and then he whirled around to see the face of our attacker; my attacker to be precise.

"Fast reflexes." A female voice resounded in our ears. She was clapping.

Gabriel and myself readied our daggers as the shadow of the girl was revealed in the sunlight. It was the girl from district 5. I've seen her during the trainings. She was very skilled with the bow and arrow and her aim never misses the dummies. The girl with her fiery red hair and green eyes looked radiant underneath the sun, but the blood that covered her clothes, arms and face made her gruesome and frightening.

I made no attempt to argue with her. She was wrong after all. I had no fast reflexes; it was all thanks to Gabriel who told me to block away the flying arrow to my neck. The girl settled a few meters away from us and then she began firing again. Three arrows aimed straight at us but Gabriel easily blocked them with his dagger. He was very skilled at anything and he moved like he can calculate where the arrow will land.

The girl seemed fairly amused then I saw her pull out a silver box from her jacket's pocket. A lighter. The yellow flames blazed and then she lighted her arrow with it and a bright flame blazed on the tip of the arrow. Gabriel was alarmed at her approach and he turned to look at me, telling me to be alert at all times.

The girl smiled at us and then began firing her burning arrows at us. The arrows path lighted the tall grasses before us and soon we were surrounded by a circle of fire. The girl didn't stop lighting and aiming her arrows at us, soon enough the whole place was clouded with smoke. I coughed violently, inhaling the smoke that comes to intoxicate my nostrils.

Gabriel found me kneeling on the muddy ground, my dagger not on my grip anymore. More arrows came. I found it very intriguing that this girl had so many arrows with it. Gabriel pulled me up to my feet but as soon as I was up, an arrow blazed on my cheek and I shriek in horror as it the fire began to sizzle my hair.

"No!" I began to panic as my hair began to blaze on fire. Gabriel was soon at my aide, putting out the fire from my hair. I was flinging around, making it hard for him to put it out, so without any protests, he pushed me to the ground and I found myself rolling unto dirt and mud.

The fire soon disappeared from my hair and I smelt the burnt hair. I didn't dare to look or touch my hair and how short it must have been by now, but my full attention shifted back to the tribute shooting fiery arrows at us.

"Stay here and stay low!" Gabriel exclaimed to me and I saw him standing up and disappearing into the thick white smoke. I began to cough violently again but the more I made noise, the more the girl tributes shoot at us.

There was a deafening silence and then a loud shriek from the girl tribute. I also heard blade digging into flesh and being pulled out, the usual sounds I always hear while I watch the games at home. Pushing myself up from the ground, I began to run the other way but to my surprise, something toppled me back to the ground. I winced as the sprain from my ankle from last night radiated pain again.

"Damn it!" I cursed and found myself whirling to my side. I opened my eyes and found the girl tribute's body beneath me. I cried in horror after seeing her gruesome face bathed in her own blood, her eyes wide and staring dully to my soul, her mouth twitched in pain and her throat slit. Her flesh was showing from the inside and black colored blood began to gush out her throat like water splashing from a faucet. I found out she was still alive and her hand came in contact with my own throat. I felt her slimy hands caress the back of my throat and her long fingernails scratching my skin before her hand dropped back to the ground.

I scrambled to my feet and found my back hit something hard. A tree trunk perhaps and then the canon resounded. I waited for the smoke to disappear but a hand pulled me up and I found myself looking at Gabriel, his face drenched with human blood- the girl tribute's blood-.

I was shaking all over and the sight of the girl's wrecked face made me tremble more. I was about to breakdown from the horror and the gore. My stomach began to churn as the flashes of flesh bathed in black and red blood run into my brain. I began to pant hard and then Gabriel's arms circled around me as I began to breakdown, wailing and screaming in fear.

"Shhh.." he hushed me, patting my back with his hand. I buried my face on his shoulder and found my own arms circling around his torso.

I wanted to die at that moment. Then the fear of the games came rushing into me. I felt the laughter of the people in Panem upon me after seeing how distorted and fearsome I am. I also felt the rush of emotions pool inside my system; the fear of losing my mother, the sadness of losing Damien, the anger of letting Gabriel kill my friend, the unending feeling of loss and pain. It rushed into me like rough winds during a storm as I made my way back to our house. I felt horrible and the only thing that comforted me at that moment is Gabriel's soft voice as he hushed me and his arms around my torso.

I told myself I wouldn't trust him, but after realizing that I cannot survive on my own. That killing a fellow tribute will make me breakdown like this, I began to realize on myself that deciding to be his ally is the best decision I have made during the games. I wanted company so badly that risking my own life is not an option anymore.

Gabriel's hand pulled away from my torso and I found him wiping out my tears from my cheeks. "Are you all right now?" he asked.

I nodded my head refusing to utter a word. With that death, eleven tributes are left. Gabriel handed me my dagger and then the smoke disappearing into a thin mist. We began to walk away as the hovercraft appeared above us. I turned for the last time to the girl's dead body and found it taken away back to the Capitol. I swear I could still see her eyes looking dully at me. I shivered from the thought and moved closer beside Gabriel, who now seems at ease with me walking side by side with him.

While we were walking, I made an attempt to touch my hair. It had shorten down to my shoulders not anymore reaching down to my waist.

Our walk to the heart of the woods was silent. I found it fun stepping unto Gabriel's boot prints and he found me annoying doing so. I stopped when he finally turned to me, glare blazing from his blue-gray eyes. "Will you act seriously just for once!" his voice was loud and in rage.

I was taken aback by his shifting emotion. "Sorry." Was the only word that came out from my mouth as he continued to walk. This time, he doesn't like having me beside him. Now I know he's showing another side of him: he is very moody.

Another canon shots up in the air. I saw birds in the afternoon skies as they hover above our heads, tiny black shadows forming on my face as I turned up to look at them. Another death. That makes us ten.

"It's been bothering me for quite some time now." I paused on my tracks.

Gabriel stopped as well but didn't turn to look at me. "What is that?"

"You are a career like Monica, right? Why haven't you teamed up?"

Gabriel finally turned to look at me. "That is not your business."

I rolled my eyes at him, knowing that his temper has risen again. He began to walk again and this time, I saw the exhaustion in the hunch of his shoulders. I began to run towards him, pulled his hand for him to stop and he turned to look at me without bothering to pull my hand away from his wrist. "What is it now?"

"I am tired. We should rest now."

Gabriel decided this for a moment before he gave in. We were already at the center of the woods, having seen that the trees in the area are broad and quite tall than an average one. There were birds singing on tree tops, a squirrel had just jumped out from its burrow and when it saw us looking at him like we need his meat for food, it dashed off somewhere in a bush and then we both know at that moment that we have to settle for our food supplies stacked inside our bags. We dig in like there's no tomorrow and we drowned ourselves with our water like there's no light for us the next day.

After eating, all the exhaustion from that day escalated out of our body. Gabriel wanted to perch himself again on a tree. He really does love climbing unto trees; he told me it gave him a good view below. I wanted to try at least to climb a tree but seeing that with these injuries I have acquired, it would be really bad for me to climb. The sprain on my ankle and wound from my back, which would even make it worst if I climb up a tree.

Gabriel wanted to climb the tree but seeing how I became horrified a while ago, he decided to stay with me beneath the canopy of trees. We started a fire. I was very amused of his survival skills. He told me that he has been trained when he was just six years old. In his family, being able to train as career and being able to volunteer in the games is pride to the family name.

I began to feel sorry for him. All his life, he lived his life being told what to do, what not to do and how to survive the games even at the peak of death. He very much accepted his fate in the games and he told me he wouldn't back out until his final breath.

The contenders of the game today are very powerful. There is the sly vixen Monica who can hold two heavy axes on her hands and aim straight to flesh and bone. There were other tributes from poor districts who are very much hungry to kill than to survive. However, I myself am a different person. I know my capabilities and I am the weakest of the group. It doesn't surprise me that everyone in Panem hates my vulnerability and that I looked so much dependent with Gabriel on my side.

The thoughts just brought more horrible feelings inside of me. I forced myself not to cry.

"So what is it like in your district? District 8?" Gabriel finally had the urge to question me.

I grabbed a twig from the ground and began playing with the fire before me. "Not quite elegant like yours. I am a seamstress in our area. I sew military clothes and the make textiles for the Capitol. Not very much interesting than your life at your district."

Gabriel laughed. "You have an honorable occupation. Unlike mine, all I do in our place is train to become a strong career."

"Do you ever get tired?" I asked, looking at him and seeing how the light from the fire flickers on his eyes. "There must be a time when you would have liked to live a different life, right?"

Gabriel smiled and shook his head. "I love being a career. I bring my family the pride and honor they so purely deserved."

"How can you like your job? You train to kill!"

Gabriel turned to me and shook his head. "We are trained to survive."

"That's the same thing." I looked away from his eyes as the feeling of homesickness rushed into my heart. I threw the twig in the fire and it blazed up, sending flicker of light on my face. I stretched out my legs before me and cradled inside my sleeping bag. "Good night." I told Gabriel without seeing his face. How I wish I would wake up the next morning; dead and free from this suffering.

I came to my senses just about dawn. I rolled unto my side and almost got leaves on my mouth. I wiped my mouth with the hem of my jacket's sleeve and turned to our campfire. The woods are ashes now and a faint smoke swirled in the air. I looked up to the skies; no birds singing, no canons firing in the distance, no clouds in sight just the gray skies and there was this uneasy silence.

I sat up and blinked my eyes. I looked to the other side of the campfire and saw Gabriel's back on me. I wander if he is awake, but seeing the slow rise and fall of his chest made me relief that he's still asleep. I reached out for my dagger and began to make short spears from thick branches of the trees. It took me a while to notice that Gabriel hasn't been stirring on his sleep, not a single movement or sound.

I dropped the small spear made of wood on the ground and placed back my dagger on my belt. I stood up and walked over to Gabriel's 'sleeping body'. My eyes went wide with fear when I saw two holes on his uninjured hand. I know those marks and it can't be good. I fell on the ground beside him and shook him hard. He wasn't responding, but he is still alive. For now.

I was hysterical at that moment, knowing that anytime soon he will die from the venom. I realized that when my sister was alive, she told me how to handle snake bites, knowing that I was bitten by a snake when I was two. She told me how to confine the venom by using a tie to unable blood flow. She told me how to suck the venom out without trying to kill myself in doing so. The bite looked fresh, not too long ago.

I grabbed Gabriel's hand and placed my mouth on top the bite marks. I began to suck out the blood and venom on the holes. The taste of blood on my taste buds felt awful to my stomach, but I need to save him. I owe him. He needs to survive, not just for my sake but for others- his family-. I sucked out enough of his blood and venom and spit it right into the ground behind me. I pulled out a bandage strip from his bag and tied it on his wrist. I don't know if what I am doing was right, but I know I could save him.

I looked around me. This is the time where my scores in the training must be put into use. I need my sponsors to save Gabriel from dying. I found a camera and stared at it too long for my mentor to realize what I need at this time. I also hoped whoever is Gabriel's mentor sees me or any of his sponsors. I know Gabriel received the same score as I am, and I believe they could also help, seeing he is after all from district 1; a career. His family wouldn't let him die.

It took a while longer before a silver parachute appeared in the skies. It landed a few meters from our camp and I rushed towards it. I looked at the contents of the basket and found a vial inside swirled a green liquid and a syringe. I ran back to Gabriel and by the time I reached him, I saw him convulse, the white of his eyes rolling and foam rushing out from his pale blue lips.

And then it struck me, I need to save him now. It's now or never.


End file.
